1.Introduction:

Associated with David Held, and other neo-Idealists, Cosmopolitan democracy requires the following: the creation of regional parliaments and the extension of the authority of such regional bodies (like EU) which are already in existence, human rights conventions must be entrenched in national parliaments and monitored by a new international Court of human Rights; the UN must be replaced with a genuinely democratic and accountable global parliament.

“Cosmopolitan approaches to political community are enjoying a renaissance at the present time. The idea of world citizenship is a concept that international non-governmental organizations use to support the development of a stronger sense of responsibility for the global environment and for the whole human species.


2.Definition:

According to Andrew Linklater:

“It is a condition in which international organizations, TNCs, global markets, and so forth are accountable to the peoples of the world.


3.Elaboration:

Proponents of Cosmopolitan democracy have argued that national democracies have little control over global markets and limited ability to influence decisions taken by TNCs which effect currency values, levels of employment and so forth. They maintain that democracy may not survive in any meaningful form if it remains limited to the nation state. The task is to democratize international organizations such as WTO and to make sure that TNCs are held accountable for decisions that harm vulnerable individuals and groups.

One response to globalization then is to argue for new forms of cosmopolitan political community in which the members of different societies come together as cosmopolitan citizens to influence decisions that affect the whole world.


4.David Held on Cosmopolitan Democracy:

His arguments for Cosmopolitan democracy includes:

1)Territorial boundaries demarcate the basis on which individuals are included in and excluded from participation in decisions affecting their lives but the outcomes of these decisions often stretch beyond national frontiers.

2)Both routine and extraordinary decisions taken by representatives of the nations and nation states profoundly affect citizens of other nation states – who in all probability have had no opportunity to signal consent or lack of it.


Held recommends a number of short-term changes to promote the Cosmopolitan ideal:

1)Reform of the UN SC; to give developing countries a significant voice and effective decision-making capacity.

2)Creation of a UN second chamber; following an international constitutional convention.

3)Enhanced political regionalisation and the use of transnational referenda.

4)Compulsory jurisdiction before the international court. Creation of a new, international Human Rights Court.
5)Foundation of a new coordinating economic agency at regional and global levels.

6)Establishment of an effective, accountable international military force.


5.Cosmopolitanism & Cosmopolitan law enforcement:

Globalization may seem to create new opportunities for promoting the Cosmopolitan idea that all human beings are equal. Cosmopolitans argue that solution to global problems should promote the welfare of the species as a whole. Writers on the international law of war argue that the international community should defend the victims of war crimes wherever they may live. Rom this vantage point, the establishment of an International Criminal Court is to be welcomed as an important step in promoting what Mary Kaldor has called “cosmopolitan law enforcement”.